News in brief

European Voice

6/10/09, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/12/14, 5:59 PM CET

In the pink

The European Commission has dropped a proposal to change the rules on how rosé wine can be made, because of opposition from France and Italy. The Commission had suggested lifting a ban on mixing white and red wines to make the pink drink, but abandoned the idea after opposition from most of the wine sector, Mariann Fischer Boel, the European commissioner for agriculture, said on Monday (8 June).

Cleaner trucks

Ministers passed a law aimed at reducing pollution from trucks and buses on Monday. The Euro VI regulation requires makers of these vehicles to reduce nitrogen oxide by 80% and particulate matter by 66% compared to previous standards, from the end of 2012.

Healthy conclusions

Information on patient safety should be collected on a European level, health ministers decided on Tuesday (9 June). In a non-binding recommendation, they agreed to do more to tackle hospital-acquired infections such as MRSA. In a separate recommendation, the ministers promised to create national action plans to improve treatment for patients suffering from a rare disease, defined by the EU as one that affects fewer than one in 2,000 people.

Developing links

The EU signed an interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland last Thursday (4 June). Mozambique is set to sign in the near future. The interim EPA is a step towards a full EPA with the Southern African Development Community (SADC), of which the four are members, but the SADC’s largest member, South Africa, is demanding better terms.

Club Baltic launched

The EU’s ‘Club Baltic’ took shape yesterday (10 June), when the Commission published a strategy on how to clean up the sea and boost transport links and innovation among the eight EU members around its shores.